Probiotics Fail to Foil Diarrhea in Setback for Gut-Taming Pills

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-07/probiotics-fail-to-foil-diarrhea-in-setback-for-gut-taming-pills.html

A daily dose of probiotics failed to ward off diarrhea caused by antibiotics in a study of thousands of elderly patients that may deal a blow to the industry.

The study of 2,941 patients found little difference between the group of hospitalized people who, in addition to a course of antibiotics, were given strains of gut microbes known as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, and those who unknowingly took a placebo for the same 21-day period.

The trial results, published in The Lancet today, run counter to findings from earlier tests, in which probiotics showed promise in reducing the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and infections with the bug Clostridium difficile, which can cause life-threatening bowel inflammation.

The study may prompt some hospitals and doctors to rethink whether to routinely prescribe probiotics along with antibiotics, Nick Daneman, of the University of Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, wrote in a commentary accompanying the research.

[yellerpup]

1. Hope they try it again

but this time, don't give them together because antibiotics wipes out probiotics. Probiotics are a good way to reset the good flora in the gut after taking antibiotics.

[Larkspur]

2. It's stupid to prescribe probiotics with antibiotics

The probiotic's I use from Puritan.com contain bacteria. I take them in place of eating yogurt, which I hated. One of my doctor's interns suggested taking probiotics in place of eating yogurt and I'm glad she made that suggestion.

Antibiotics kill bacteria, including the good ones we need to digest our food. Probiotics replenishes the good bacteria in our gut.

I've been on Probiotics 10 from Puritan.com for less than a year and it has improved my health a lot. I was having trouble digesting dairy products and sweet corn. Within 1 week of taking probiotics, I had no trouble digesting dairy products. Withing 2 weeks, I could eat sweet corn without having to dash to the bathroom after eating it. Prior to the probiotcs, corn was literally passing from my stomach through my intestines and out my you-know-what.

I've also noticed that I'm not having urges to binge eat or drink large amounts of soda since being on a regular program of taking probiotics. It's like the hunger/stop eating signal between my stomach and brain has reconnected.